


Lead My Heart With the Lights of the Sea

by RegalMisfortune



Series: The World is Painted in Hymns from Lips of Mere Strangers [3]
Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Alex finds Valhalla Too Big (TM), Alex in: Men Cant be Cute (But Wait Five Seconds and Then You'll See One), Another brief snippet involving Virgil and Alex, Because uh, Gen, Haley is both Good and Bad at the same time I love her, reasons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-11 00:47:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12311322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegalMisfortune/pseuds/RegalMisfortune
Summary: Virgil is shy, Alex is clueless, and Haley takes pictures of the two dorks instead of the jellyfish.A snippet from Chapter 28 of "Venture Forth and Plant the Seeds of New Beginnings" at the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies from a different perspective.





	Lead My Heart With the Lights of the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> I think I've accidentally fallen into this mess of a potential pairing and I can't seem to get up. 
> 
> If you have any questions or requests, feel free to ask me on my [tumblr!](http://regalmisfortune.tumblr.com/)

“You are going to pace a hole through the dock if you keep it up.”

“I can’t help it, Haley!” Alex groaned, running his fingers through his hair. It was the night of the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies, and both Valhalla and Virgil were running late. Everyone else were already present, finding their favorite spots to watch the migration. His own grandparents favored keeping on shore, as it would disturb the least amount of people as they left before the last of the jellyfish floated by. His grandpa always complained about being cold, but Alex knew he did it because his grandma got tired and he didn’t want to see her sad for not seeing them as well as she used to.

Haley and Emily, who was sitting beside each other on one of the benches built onto the pier, looked at each other. Emily smiled a knowing smile, and Haley rolled her eyes with the corners of her painted lips quirking upward in reply to her sister’s expression. Alex missed both in favor of tugging on the hem of his shirt.  

“He’ll turn up,” Emily said kindly, and Alex sighed.

“I know, but, I’m excited to tell- oh!”

With that, Alex was down the pier towards the beach, waving as he called out to Virgil as he and his much taller companion walked across the sand.

If there was one word that Alex could pick to describe Valhalla, it was most definitely the word “bear”. She was taller than anyone else in the town, broad at the shoulders and arms that could most definitely crush him like a soft drink can. In comparison, Virgil was positively tiny, barely reaching the lower section of her chest in height, smaller than even the girls in his thin and petite stature. Even with his frame dwarfed in the thick woven yarn of a burgundy turtleneck sweater, a single one of Valhalla’s legs was probably thicker than he was in entirety.

Standing side by side, Virgil made Valhalla look exceedingly massive, and she in turn made him miniscule in comparison. It was almost comedic, like one of those bad TV tropes, but Alex knew better than to compare them too much in that likeness, as Valhalla was far from stupid and Virgil was far from being an evil mastermind.

Valhalla smiled, the moonlight glinting strangely off her odd purple eyes as they settled on Alex. “Hello Alex. How are you?”

Alex could feel a grin working onto his face before he could help himself, barely restraining from bursting with excitement. He usually felt a tad uneasy around Valhalla, entirely because he had never seen a girl before so huge in the way that Valhalla was, more so than most gridball players he had seen on TV and met on the field. Valhalla was very nice and even more so friendly, but girls weren’t meant to be _that_ big, no matter where they’re from. This time, however, he couldn’t bring himself to care as he beamed at the friendly giant.

“Good! Really good! Best news of my life!” His eyes focused on Virgil as he spoke, bouncing on his toes a little. “I got a good spot to watch from the docks if you want to join.”

Virgil looked out of his depths and torn at the comment, his fingers already threading together to twist around each other as he anxiously glanced up at Valhalla, who smiled softly down at her tiny companion and gently nudged him forward.

“Go on.”

Alex waited as patiently as he could through the exchange, Virgil stepping closer towards him as Valhalla ventured further down the sand. “Come on,” he whispered to the smaller young man, not even realizing that his fingers were curling around the access fabric of the sleeve of the sweater, knuckles barely brushing against Virgil’s skin as he led him along back onto the pier, passing Emily who had gone up to help Clint who was looking a little green around the gills as he eyed the sea, but with Emily’s encouragement he may watch the event for the first time on the pier and not on the safety of the shore.

“Finally arrived?” Haley asked as he guided Virgil along back to their bench, flipping her blond hair over one shoulder. “He wouldn’t stop pacing until you showed up.”

“Oh,” came the very soft reply, and Alex realized how high Virgil’s shoulders had risen and half his face hidden inside his collar, leaving his eyes and hair peeking out from the dark burgundy, looking very pale.

It was then that Alex remembered that Virgil had never met Haley before.

“I forgot,” Alex berated himself before clearing his throat. “Virgil, this is my best friend, Haley. Haley, this is Virgil.”

“Hard not know who he is if you never stop talking about him,” Haley replied back, but her words had no bite to them as she smiled at Virgil, extending a prim hand and blue nails out towards him. “It’s nice to meet you in person. Alex never did say how cute you were though.”

And then she _winked_ \- and Virgil’s ears turned pink as he buried his face further into his sweater.

“He’s not cute!” Alex exclaimed. “Boys can’t be cute!”

“Oh hush. Only someone of that cuteness can pull off a sweater like _that_.” Haley wrinkled her nose at the article of clothing as if it offended her. Virgil merely peeked out from over the very edge of his collar at the extended hand, but Alex knew Haley wasn’t too offended by the lack of response as she turned her hand to instead pat the empty space of bench beside her. “Come here, Virgil, Alex has something exciting to tell us that he’s been _dying_ to say.”

Alex blinked at Haley’s words before they sank in. “Oh, yeah!”

Virgil hesitantly took the seat offered to him, leaving a noticeable gap between himself and Haley while perching on the very edge of the wood, as if he would jump up and flee at any second. Alex decided not to comment on it, instead clasping his hands behind his back as he bounced on his toes.

“I got onto ZuZu University’s gridball team!” he blurted out, brimming with pride.

“That’s excellent news!” Haley gasped, clapping her hands together as the previous teasing on her face and in her tone faded into one of excitement. “I’m so happy for you!”

“They said I had a lot of potential! But that’s not all- I’m getting academic assistance! So I might be able to play for even longer!”

“You got tested?” Virgil’s voice, no matter how quiet, piped up, no longer muffled by fabric as his face emerged from his sweater.

“Yeah, I did. Said I might have… ah… I don’t really remember what they said, but ol’ Doc’s gonna test me further and make it official so the school can give me help with my books and things.”

The smile that Alex received was so unexpected that it threw him off guard and caused him to openly stare at Virgil. It was the first time he had ever seen the other smile more than a bare ghosting twitch in the corners of his mouth. This one was with his lips stretched wide and even teeth showing, his eyes scrunching as his freckled cheeks lifted slightly over his cheekbones.

Haley was right- Virgil _was_ cute.

The moment ended with Haley reaching out and pinching Virgil’s cheek. Or she tried to. The moment her fingers brushed against his skin he jerked so hard he almost fell backwards off the bench and into the water, only saved by Haley instead digging her fingers into his sweater.

“Yoba Almighty, I didn’t mean to scare you!” Haley fretted, smoothing out Virgil’s sweater once he was safely back onto the bench. The smile was gone as quick as it came, the warm _youthfulness_ of it evaporating into the cool sea breeze as Virgil burrowed himself back into his collar, abusing his long sleeves as he picked and twisted them under his hands, eyes down on his lap and refusing to look higher.

“Sorry,” he whispered into the fabric.

“Virgil, you aren’t the one to be apologizing,” Alex murmured in Haley’s place as her lips pinched together into a thin line. He sat down beside Virgil, putting the tiny scholar between himself and Haley.

“I couldn’t keep my hands to myself,” Haley joined Alex. There was a look in her eye as she flitted her gaze from Virgil to Alex and back again, and Alex knew what sort of parallels she was making.

Virgil was acting a bit like he did when he first came to Pelican Town after his mother died.

“I think the Mayor’s getting ready to push out the lantern,” Alex decided to say, deterring the awkwardness away from Virgil. Haley perked up, taking the change by the horns.

“Is he?” She quickly ducked down to reach under the bench as she spoke, pulling out her camera case. “Hope you don’t mind me taking pictures during this. I just got a new camera and want to try out how well it works in such conditions.” She cast a glance over at Virgil, who gave a very minute shake of his head that he wouldn’t mind- or it was simply a shiver. Either way Haley took it as a sign for her to set her camera up, putting the strap around her neck so she wouldn’t accidentally drop it into the ocean just as the very first of the jellyfish arrived.

Alex had seen the migration for years now, but it was still as breathtaking as it was the first time he saw it. The glowing tendrils of light as the jellyfish drift by was soft and peaceful, lighting up the pier and the ocean around them as they went. The only sound was the waves and the quiet clicking of Haley’s camera as conversations died or dropped to a murmur that was nearly inaudible with the water.

“They say that the ancient mariners used to travel with the guidance of benevolent, glowing sea monsters.”

The quiet voice pulled Alex out of his gazing of the jellyfish, turning his eyes over to Virgil. His face was out of his sweater, leaning so that he was close to the edge of the dock without risk of falling in. “Every year they traveled to the Islands of Leon guided by the lights, staying for the season before the glowing creatures moved back to the very fringes of their own homeland. Some of the remote islands even thought of them as deities, spirits of fallen stars who travel endlessly in search for the pathway back to the heavens.”

He looked like he wanted to say more but froze, an unreadable look crossing his face before he ducked his head.

“Sorry… You… probably didn’t want to hear any of that.”

“No, no,” Alex whispered back, sliding himself a little closer so he could lean nearer to Virgil. “It’s cool. Do you know more stories?”

Virgil’s chin dipped into his collar again, but his lips were just visible over the threads. A tiny, ghosting smile appeared in the corners of them as he opened his mouth and quietly began telling Alex the tales of different cultures and their take of the Moonlight Jellies in a soft whisper. For the most part they were benevolent entities of the sea and associated with travel. Some islands even still believed them to be deities, which made Alex see for perhaps the first time that not everyone believed in Yoba like Ferngill. He never heard of there being any other religion or belief, which he knew wasn’t taught in any history class at all. It was fascinating, how _mystical_ Virgil made these ancient tales and legends and even some modern day beliefs about the jellyfish.

It was also, perhaps, the first time he had heard the young man speak so much in one sitting.

Alex spent the entire time listening to Virgil talk, so enraptured by his tellings that he didn’t notice that the clicks of the camera had turned from the sea and the jellyfish to the two young adults who basked in their soft glow, leaning close with their heads almost touching as they whispered without either realizing their proximity.

Later he would see the pictures that Haley shoved almost smugly into his face, but tonight, his attention was on Virgil.


End file.
